Sherri Shepherd Shakes It Up

The Views new cohost, Sherri Shepherd, tells it like it is about her messy marriage, the other woman, and fans who wish she wouldnt lose weight.

Last September, when Sherri Shepherd was named the newest cohost on ABCs hit talk show The View, she expected her life to change dramatically.

Shes still waiting.

An actress and comedian who used to perform stand-up in clubs at night while answering law-firm phones during the day, Shepherd is no stranger to struggling for recognition. When she finally started guest-starring on sitcoms such as Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond, then won a regular role on Suddenly Susan, she noticed people staring at her. But they could never quite place me, she says. When people would come up and ask, Where do I know you? Id say: Im the black girl on all the white shows.

After she landed the coveted fifth chair on The View, Shepherd was sure shed go from that girl to It girl. No such luck, as a recent trip to Broadway proved. I was at The Color Purple, Shepherd recalls, and this woman kept asking me who I was. I said, Im the new girl on The View. But no, she doesnt watch daytime. Didnt watch Raymond or Suddenly Susan, either. I ran down my whole résumé for her, then I gave up and said, You know what? Youre right. Im just a legal secretary who happened to be here in New York.

The quick-witted Shepherd, 40, wasnt hired to cause controversy. After a roller-coaster season in which Rosie ODonnells verbal vitriol made frequent headlines, Shepherd was brought on to be a smiling, good-natured gal whod complement den mother Whoopi Goldberg and the funny-but-acerbic Joy Behar. But then she began to reveal a side that fans of her sitcom work had never seen. A born-again Christian, she has been outspoken about her beliefs on the show, and shes committed more than a few gaffes.

Soon after arriving, she famously remarked that she was unsure whether the Earth was round or flat  a comment she now says was a total brain fart but which nonetheless was viewed over 300,000 times on YouTube. She later claimed that ancient Greeks persecuted Christians (even though Christ hadnt been born yet), all to the chortles of media watchers.

But Shepherd is unrepentant. Even if I have moments where I say something and I think a second later, Wait, I didnt mean it to sound like that  well, its too late. Its already out there, she says as she picks at tuna salad in a conference room near The Views set. Ive had to develop a tough shell and brush off the criticism. And Ive had to realize that if people who watch me dont get me, or understand my spirit, then I dont know what else to tell them.

Indeed, Shepherd seems willing to tell viewers just about everything, whether shes talking about her messy split from her husband of seven years, comedian Jeff Tarpley, or her love for her only child, 2-year-old Jeffrey. Shepherd went through a high-risk pregnancy with Jeffrey, having originally conceived twins after in vitro fertilization. She miscarried one of the babies, a girl, and from that point on, I felt like my remaining baby was in Gods hands, she says. Her faith became even more important when she went into labor after just 25 weeks, and Jeffrey was born weighing one pound, 10 ounces.

I just remember looking at him in his little Isolette. He couldnt move and he was so sickly and he looked like a little alien. I just cried, she says, her huge, round eyes glistening. They told us that he was going to have so many problems, and that the quality of his life was going to be horribly affected. There was a hole in his heart, and brain bleeds, and they said wed probably be looking at multiple surgeries. And I believe in heaven, so I thought, Hell be better off there with his grandmother and his sister. Who am I to keep this boy here to suffer? I just said, Lord, Im going to give him over to you. But if you could do a miracle, then that would be so wonderful.

Shepherd says that on the day that she and her husband went to the hospital to disconnect Jeffreys ventilator, they were told by the doctors that a serious hole in his intestines had healed itself. It was a sign, she says. He showed us he was fighting, and thats when we started fighting for him. And now, hes just been a miracle. He runs around, and every time he looks at me and says, Mommy, I just cry. Hes delayed, and he gets therapy seven days a week, but hes perfect in every way to me. I brought him to the studio a few weeks ago, and he ran over to Barbara Walters and gave her a big kiss and laughed at everything she said. I said, Good work, baby. You just bought us job security for the next four years!

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